WKRG-TV

WKRG-TV

Mobile, Alabama/Pensacola, Florida United States
Branding	WKRG News 5
Slogan	Coverage You Can Count On
Channels	Digital: 27 (UHF) Virtual: 5 (PSIP)
Subchannels	5.1 CBS 5.2 Weather radar 5.3 Me-TV
Affiliations	CBS
Owner	Media General (Media General Communications Holdings, LLC)
First air date	September 5, 1955[1]
Call letters' meaning	Kenneth R. Giddens (WKRG's founder)
Former channel number(s)	Analog: 5 (VHF, 1955–2009)
Transmitter power	1000 kW
Height	499 m
Facility ID	73187
Transmitter coordinates	30°41′20.5″N 87°49′50.8″W / 30.689028°N 87.830778°W / 30.689028; -87.830778
Website	www.wkrg.com

WKRG-TV, virtual channel 5 (UHF digital channel 27), is a CBS-affiliated television station located in Mobile, Alabama, United States, that also serves Pensacola, Florida. The station is owned by Media General. WKRG's studios are located on Broadcast Drive in southwest Mobile, and its transmitter is located in unincorporated Baldwin County near Spanish Fort, Alabama.

Digital television

Digital channels

The station's digital signal is multiplexed:

WKRG replaced the Retro Television Network with Me-TV on its third digital subchannel in September 2011.^[4]

Analog-to-digital conversion

WKRG-TV shut down its analog signal, over VHF channel 5, on June 12, 2009, the official date in which full-power television stations in the United States transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 27.^[5] Through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display the station's virtual channel as its former VHF analog channel 5.

History

WKRG-TV first signed on the air September 5, 1955.^[1] The station was founded by the architect and movie theater owner Kenneth R. Giddens, who also put WKRG radio (710 AM, now WNTM, and 99.9 FM, now WMXC) on the air. WKRG has served as the market's CBS affiliate from its sign-on. The station originally operated from studios located on St. Louis Street in downtown Mobile until around 1982, when it relocated its operations to an area near the Bel Air Mall, which Giddens also had a hand in developing. WKRG-TV operates on the bottom floor and the radio stations operate on the second and third floors of the building.

For years, WKRG-TV was the only locally owned station in the Mobile-Pensacola-Pascagoula area. This changed after the death of Giddens in 1993. The radio stations were sold off in 1994, although they remain housed in the same building as the television station. Spartan Communications purchased WKRG-TV in 1998; the station then came under the ownership of Media General after it purchased Spartan in 2000. The station celebrated its 50th year of broadcasting in 2005.

In 2007, WKRG entered into a radio partnership with Clear Channel Communications, in effect re-establishing ties with former sister stations WNTM and WMXC, as well as WKSJ-FM (94.9 FM) and WRKH (96.1 FM). The radio stations were previously partnered with NBC affiliate WPMI-TV (channel 15), an association that ended as a result of Clear Channel selling its television stations (including WPMI) to Newport Television in 2008.

For many years, WKRG served as the default CBS affiliate for the Pascagoula/Biloxi, Mississippi market as that market did not have a CBS affiliate of its own; WKRG was available to cable subscribers in Biloxi and Gulfport, Mississippi, and usually serves the area's "B" CBS station behind New Orleans affiliate WWL-TV. This changed in 2012, when ABC affiliate WLOX-TV signed an affiliation agreement to carry CBS programming on one of its digital subchannels.

Programming

Syndicated programs broadcast by WKRG-TV include Family Feud, The Big Bang Theory, The Andy Griffith Show, The Collector and The Border.

Shows that aired on WKRG in the past include Woman's World;^[6][7][8][9] The Popeye Show,^[10] Rosie's Place and Small Fry News, a show featuring local fifth graders.^[6] WKRG-TV was also the longtime home of Congressional Report from 1973 to 2006, billed as the longest-running program of its kind in the nation, featuring local congressmen giving viewers a local perspective of Washington, D.C. and the central Gulf Coast from their congressman's standpoint.

News operation

WKRG-TV presently broadcasts 22 hours of local newscasts each week (with four hours on weekdays, and one hour each on Saturdays and Sundays).

In 2002, the focus of the station's programming switched to weather and news, and the station's branding was changed to reflect it: it rebranded from "WKRG 5" to WKRG News 5 (based on the station's NewsCenter branding in the 1980s and 1990s) and its slogan touted it as Mobile's "Weather Authority". On October 18, 2010, starting with its 6:00 p.m. newscast, WKRG became the second television station in the Mobile-Pensacola market and the first Mobile-based station to begin broadcasting its local newscasts in high definition.

At one time, WKRG ran an expanded morning newscast until 8:00 a.m. on weekdays, which pre-empted the first hour of The Early Show, as well as a weekday 9:00 a.m. newscast. The 7:00 a.m. newscast was cancelled in 2008 at CBS's request for its affiliates to air both hours of The Early Show and the 9:00 a.m. newscast was cancelled in 2009 due to low viewership and staff reductions by parent company Media General. As of September 9, 2013 (with WPMI expanding its weekday morning newscast to 4:30 a.m. starting that day), WKRG remains the only local station in the market to still starts its weekday morning newscast at 5:00 a.m. (as WALA did so until August 27, 2012, WEAR until July 15, 2013 and WPMI until September 9, 2013).

Awards

• National Edward R. Murrow Award for Continuing Coverage - "Mobile's Makeover", the changing economic landscape of Mobile.
• Crash of the Sunset Limited: 10 Years Later - Associated Press Large Market Best Documentary^[6]
• Rosie Seaman - Press Club of Mobile John Harris Lifetime Achievement Award^[6]
• Alan Sealls - Associated Press Large Market Best Meteorologist^[6]

News/station presentation

Newscast titles

• NewsCenter 5 (stylized as "News Center Five"; 1974–1997)
• WKRG 5 News (1997–2002)
• WKRG News 5 (2002–present)

Station slogans

• "The Gulf Coast's Leading News Station" (1974–1990)
• "Your 24-Hour News Source"
• "The Gulf Coast NewsChannel" (1997–2000)
• "Coverage You Can Count On" (1997–2002 and 2004–present)
• "Your Weather Authority" (2002–2004)
• "The Gulf Coast's News Leader" (2010–present)
• "Gimme 5!" (morning show; 2010–present)

This film, television or video-related list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it with reliably sourced additions.

News team

Current on-air staff^[11]

Anchors

• Peter Albrecht - weeknights at 5:00 p.m.; also investigative reporter
• Rose Ann Haven - weeknights at 6:00 and 10:00 p.m.
• Bill Riales - weekday mornings (5:00-7:00 a.m.); also weeknight reporter
• Mel Showers - weeknights at 6:00 and 10:00 p.m.
• Lauren Vargas - Saturdays at 6:00, Sundays at 5:30 and weekends at 10:00 p.m.; also weeknight reporter
• Devon Walsh - weekday mornings (5:00-7:00 a.m.) and weekdays at noon

Weather team

• Alan Sealls (AMS Certified Broadcast Meteorologist and NWA Seals of Approval) - chief meteorologist; weeknights at 5:00, 6:00 and 10:00 p.m.
• John Nodar (AMS Certified Broadcast Meteorologist and NWA Seals of Approval) - meteorologist; weekday mornings (5:00-7:00 a.m.) and weekdays at noon
• Jonathan Owens (AMS and NWA Seals of Approval) - meteorologist; Saturdays at 6:00, Sundays at 5:30 and weekends at 10:00 p.m.

Sports team

• Randy Patrick - sports director; weeknights at 6:00 and 10:00 p.m.
• TBD - sports anchor; Saturdays at 6:00, Sundays at 5:30 and weekends at 10:00 p.m.

Reporters

• Blake Brown - general assignment reporter
• Allen Carter - general assignment reporter
• Avery Cotton - general assignment reporter
• Ali Holston - general assignment reporter
• Ashley Knight - general assignment reporter
• Tiffany McCall - general assignment reporter
• Pat Peterson - Baldwin County reporter
• Chad Petri - general assignment reporter
• Debbie Williams - Baldwin County reporter

Notable former on-air staff

• Jack Drees
• Estella Payton
• John Edd Thompson

References

External links

• Official website
• WKRG's News Video Podcast
• Query the FCC's TV station database for WKRG
• BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on WKRG-TV
• Program Information for WKRG at TitanTV.com